- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Criminal Procedure
- Date Filed: 05-02-2012
- Case #: A144812
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Brewer, P.J. for the Court; Haselton, C.J; and Gillette, S.J.
The State appeals the merger of Defendant’s convictions. Defendant was convicted of 21 counts of a felon in possession of a firearm (ORS 166.270). At his sentencing hearing, the trial court merged all offenses into a single conviction under ORS 161.067(3), allowing for merger where the "episode violates only one statutory provision and involves only one victim." The State objected on the grounds that the victim of Defendant’s crime was not a person, and that the merger statute did not apply where the victim is not a person. On appeal the Court of Appeals held that the underlying felon in possession statute was created to protect the public at large, and the public was therefore the victim for the purposes of that statute as well as for the purposes of merger. Affirmed.